Partition system



May 8, 1962 e. L. FOWLES ETAL 3,

PARTITION SYSTEM Filed June 5, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 GILBERT L. FOWLES 8| GORDON J. POLLOCK ATTORNEYS y 8, 1952 G. L. FOWLES ETAL 3,033,330

PARTITION SYSTEM Filed June 5, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 GORDON J. POLLOCK 01% 6XMJMA/ ATTORNEYS y 1962 G. FowLEs ETAL 3,033,330

PARTITION SYSTEM Filed June 5, 1957 5 S heet s-Sheet :s

INVENTORS GILBERT L. FOWLES 8x BgORDON J. POLLOGK 0% arm ATTORNEYS y 8, 1962. G. L. FOWLES ETAL 3,033,330

PARTITION SYSTEM Filed June 5, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 7

INVENTOR GILBERT L. FOWLE 8:

B GORDON J. POLLOCK ATTORNEYS May 8, 1962 G. L. FOWLES ETAL PARTITION SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 5, 1957 FIG. IO

@fticc 3,033,330 PARTITION SYSTEM Gilbert 1L. Fowles, Avon, and Gordon 3. Pollock, Parma, (Ohio, assiguors to The E. F. Hauserman Company, Cleveland, ()hio, a corporation of Ohio Filed June 5, 1957, Ser. No. 663,643 9 Claims. (61. 189-34) This invention relates as indicated to a novel partition system, and more particularly to a new and improved construction and method of assembly whereby movable partitions may be very quickly assembled and disassembled, moreover afiording a much improved appearance when erected.

The use of movable partitions and wall panels, more especially steel panels, has become increasingly general not only in large commercial establishments and institutions such as manufacturing plants, laboratories and hospitals, but also in many of the newer and more elaborate oifice buildings. There is, however, an increasing interest in the use of such movable partitions in homes.

The practical advantages of such movable partitions have long been recognized, but there has been a certain amount of resistance to their use by architects and others concerned with the style and general decorative effect of the buildings involved, this opposition being due largely to a feeling that such partitions are not sufiiciently flexible in their use and arrangement to afford the architectural and design eltects desired to complement the designs of the modern buildings themselves. It is accordingly an important object of our invention to provide a novel form of partition or wall panel assembly which may embody any combination of materials to produce the particular efiect desired by the architect. Thus, panels of painted steel, aluminum, glass, wood veneer and the like may be superimposed or otherwise combined to produce unusual and artistic effects together with moldings, dividers, posts and trim in general of contrasting or blending color and conformation.

Despite the commercial success and general acceptance or" movable walls and partitions for a wide variety of purposes, it has nevertheless been recognized that there are various substantially unavoidable mechanical difiiculties likely to cause trouble when a wall or partition is tobe moved from one situation to another. Thus, floors and ceilings are seldom exactly parallel and equidistant over large areas, and shims and the like may be required to compensate for such variations. The panels themselves have often been heavy and clumsy to handle and when assembled to the supporting posts may not always fit as neatly as desired. It is accordingly a further object of the present invention to provide a novel wall panel and panel assembly adapted to be installed very rapidly and easily and which when thus installed will nevertheless afford a very neat and ornamental appearance.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a novel post construction adapted to support the wall panels and to be installed and removed in a very simple and expeditious manner.

Yet another object is to provide a novel method of joining the wall panels to such posts whereby the vertical edges of adjoining panels may directly abut, if desired, and be held firmly in engagement with each other.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention then comprises the features hereinfiter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawing:

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of two of the posts installed in properly spaced relation to receive a wall panel;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 wherein certain ad ditional elements of the wall or partition have been engaged with such posts;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 but showing a wall panel mounted on the two posts;

PEG. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the lower end portion of one of such posts and of certain of the elements assembled therewith;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the upper end portion of such post showing the manner of assembling the same with the upper elements;

FIG. 6 is a detail view of the upper end portion of a post showing a modified construction;

FIG. 7 is a transverse section taken on the line 7-7 on FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a top plan View of two such posts and the panels assembled thereto, the upper end portions of such posts being in section;

FIG. 9- is an elevational detail view with parts in section of the lower portion of one such post showing mechanism for drawing a panel into secure interlocking en gagement therewith;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 9 but taken at right angles thereto; and

FIG. 11 is a transverse section taken on the line 1111 on FIG. 10.

Referring now more particularly to said drawing and especially FIGS. 1-3 thereof, the general manner of erecting our new panel assembly will first be explained. The positions for the posts P are first measured and laid out on the floor and U-shaped metal bottom sockets B are located at the proper intervals. Inner U-shaped members -C (see also FIG. 10) are fitted within members B to receive the lower ends of the posts P. Shims may be interposed between the elements B and C as required to compensate for slight irregularity of the floor and ensure that the lower ends of the posts are all at the same level. A drive nail 1 (FIG. 10) passing through central apertures in elements B and C serves to secure the same together and to the floor.

Top sockets T are similarly secured to the ceiling directly above the bottom sockets B. Such top sockets are heavy sheet metal stampings of four-sided cup form and are provided with horizontal slots 2 and 3 (FIG. 6) to receive a spring clip in the manner explained below. Bottom socket elements B are similarly provided with three horizontal slots 4, 5 and 6 for a like purpose (FIG. 9).

Each of the posts P is formed of two metal channel members 7 and 7 welded together back to back as best shown in FIGS. 8 and 11. Each such channel member is formed with an inner narrower channel portion 8 and an outer wider symmetrical channel portion 9 having inturned flange or lip portions 16 and 11 (FIG. 11). This arrangement aflords a structure of generally rectangular over-all cross-section of the desired rigidity while at the same time providing for the panel gripping means. The outer channel portions are cut away at the bottom as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 to fit within the reltively narrow U-shape sockets B.

The upper end portions such as 12 of such posts are extensibly slidably mounted on the posts so that their upper ends may be inserted within top sockets T either before or after the lower ends of the posts are inserted within base sockets B. In one simple form shown in FIG. 5, the upper portion of the post P and such upper portion 12 may be slotted at 13 to receive a bolt to secure the upper portion in properly extended position after insertion. A somewhat modified form of extensible upper portion is shown in FIG. 6 comprising two channel shaped slide portions 14 and 15 joined at their upper ends and forming together a downwardly extending fork fitting snugly within the respective inner channel portions 8 of the post elements 7, 7. Only the directly opposed portions of such post channel elements comprising the backs of channel portions 8 extend upwardly above the upper edge 16 (FIG. 6) of the post proper. The slide portions 14 and 15 are joined together and enlarged at their upper ends to fit within the top socket T and a coil spring 17 surrounding such slide portions 14, 15 is interposed between the upper edge 16 of the post proper and the lower edge 18 of such enlarged head portion 19. It will now be seen that such head portion 19 may initially be inserted within the socket T after the latter has been preliminarily secured to the ceiling and then, through first compression and then extension of spring 17, the foot of the post may be inserted in base socket B. Obviously the described arrangement permits very rapid installation and removal of the posts without any sacrifice of the necessary rigidity of the finished installation inasmuch as the weight of the panels will hang directly downwardly on such post P without any tendency to compress springs 17.

Upper sheet metal channel members 20 of generally conventional design may be fitted about ceiling sockets T and held in place by sheet metal spring clips 21, the ends of which are snapped in slots 2 and 3 (FIGS. 5 and 6). In a similar fashion, floor channel members 22 likewise of generally conventional design may be fitted between adjacent base sockets B and held firmly down in place by means of sheet metal spring clips 23 (FIGS. 4 and 10) snapped into one of the slots 4, 5 and 6 of base socket B and bearing down on the bottom 24 of the channel.

The posts P are provided with projecting lugs such as 25 on which the wall panels are adapted temporarily to be supported during mounting and demounting of the latter as explained in detail below. A trough-shaped bridge or brace member 26 carried by brackets such as 27 on the lower portions of posts P extends between adjacent posts to serve both as an additional rigidifying element and also as panel positioning means.

The remaining elements of the assembly may best be described in conjunction with an explanation of the manner in which the wall panels 28 are mounted on the posts. Such panels may, of course, be of a wide variety of sizes, shapes and materials and since separate panels form opposite sides of each assembly, adjacent rooms may vary in decor and the panels in one room may be changed at will without aifecting adjacent rooms in any way. In a preferred form illustrated in FIG. 3 and 8, the panels 28 may be of rectangular shape of relatively thin gauge sheet metal, each panel having an inner wall portion 29 to produce a hollow double-walled panel adapted to be filled with insulating and fire-resistant material 30 such as rock Wool. The outer face of panel 28 is of greater lateral extent than inner wall portion 29 and is provided With vertically extending inturned edge portions 31 and 32 welded to vertically extending channel members 33 and 34 respectively. These latter channel members are adapted to interfit generally with outer channel portions 9 of the posts P. A channel shaped slide member 35 fits within each of such outer wider channels 9 of each post for vertical sliding movement, being retained therein by the inturned flanges 10 annd 11. Such slides 35 are provided with a series of inwardly projecting latching cam surfaces 36 and 37 on each side thereof (see also FIG. 4). These cam surfaces bend inwardly for most of their vertical extent as shown in FIGURE 5, with the end portions thereof curving back into the plane of the sides of the slide 35 as illustrated in FIGURE 8. A vertically elongated window 38 is provided in the back of the lower portion of channel slide member 35. Adja 4 cent such window and mounted in one side of slide 35 is a vertically extending rack 39.

The vertically extending channel members 33 and 34 reinforcing the side edges of the panels 28 are formed with complementary cam portions 40 adapted to interengage with the cam portions 37 of slide members 35 when they are relatively vertically reciprocated. The panels may conveniently be mounted by first hanging them from the lugs 25 on posts P, such lugs entering recesses or notches in the backs of the panels. The lower portion of the back of the panel rests against the corresponding bridge member 26. Slide 35 may now conveniently be reciprccated by means of a tool such as that shown in FIGS. 9, l0 and 11 comprising a manually operated crank 41 having a pinion 42 adapted to mesh with the teeth of rack 39. A stud 43 is adapted to project through a corresponding aperture in the inner web portions of post P forming the opposed backs of inner channel portions 8 to hold the tool against vertical movement during its operation. A co-axial boss 44 of greater dia-neter than stud 43 fits within slot 38 in slide 35 to assist in positioning the tool. When crank 41 is now operated to turn pinion 42 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 10, it will obviously act to reciprocate slide 35 downwardly within post outer channel 7 and thereby firmly interengage the latching cam members 37 and 40. It is accordingly noW impossible to swing panel 28 outwardly on the lugs 25 from which it was initially suspended. Moreover, such interengagement of the cam surfaces, when performed in each of the two posts with which the respective vertically extending side edges of the panel are interlocked, serves to tension the panel and when adjacent panels adjoin one another as shown in FIG. 8, the outer vertical edges of adjoining panels are brought into close abutment without the irregular crevice therebetween which has often been found annoying in installations prior to our invention. Channel member 33 and the sheet metal side edge portion 31 welded thereto may desirably define angles slightly less than as additional insurance that the outer vertically extending edges of adjacent panels may be brought into close uniform juxtaposition and abutment. It will be appreciated, however, that such abutting edges may themselves be recessed to receive trim strips or the like as may be desired for decorative purposes, or such decorative trim strips may be directly inserted between and clamped by the adjoining vertically extending panel edges.

The bridge members 26 as well as the upper channel members 20 serve rigidly to space adjacent posts apart and resist the lateral pull thereon exerted by the camming action. Of course, when adjoining panels of a partition are interlocked with the same post structure, the opposing pulls upon the post will normally balance out. In fact, it will be apparent that the adjoining panels are interlocked by the slides 35 and are thus joined directly together, the post merely serving to provide a guideway for slide 35 and to hold the entire assembly erect. When it is desired to remove a Wall panel 28, the same tool 41 may be employed to reciprocate slide 35 in the other direction to unlatch the panel.

It will be seen from the foregoing that we have provided a novel method of installing movable partitions and the like whereby once the floor and ceiling sockets have been properly located and adjusted, the posts may be inserted in place in a very short time and any desired type of panel mounted thereon. While the particular posts illustrated and described are designed for the mounting of adjacent aligned panels, it is readily apparent that only a half post need be provided where there is to be no corresponding panel on the other side (as when adjoining the outer wall of the building, for example) and that modified corner posts may be provided on the same principle from which adjoining panels may extend at any desired angle to each other.

The panel sides may be of steel, wood, plywood, plastic or glass and may be of cellular or mesh construction as well as solid. Obviously, a panel serving as one side of the partition may be of quite a different type from the panel serving as the other side, and they are independently changeable without disturbing the other panel or the supporting posts. The latch mechanism interengages the panel margin portions and the adjoining posts in a manner to enclose the posts from view, leaving only a narrow vertical line defining the abutting edges of adjacent panels (FIG. 8). If desired, a trim strip may be inserted between such adjacent panels and clamped thereby.

A panel assembly somewhat similar in certain respects to the present partition system is described and claimed in application Serial No. 721,226.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

We therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as our invention:

1. A partition system comprising a series of horizontally spaced vertical posts, a projecting portion on each of said posts having a camming surface, a wall panel extending between each adjacent pair of said posts and having marginal flanges turned toward a post, said mrginal flanges each having a projecting portion provided with a camming surface, said posts and said marginal flanges being adapted for relative movement longitudinally of the posts, the camming surfaces of adjacent projecting post and panel portions being complementary and disposed to abut panels edge to edge in the direction of their lateral extent upon interengagement of said surfaces during such relative longitudinal movement of said posts and panels entirely to conceal said posts.

2. A partition system comprising a plurality of horizontally spaced vertical posts, a slide member carried by each post for relative longitudinal movement therealong each slide member having a camming surface, a pair of wall panels mounted back to back between adjacent posts, said panels having inturned margin portions, a projecting portion on each of said inturned margin portions having a camming surface, the camming surfaces of adjacent slide member and panel portions being complementary and so shaped simultaneously to draw said panels to said posts and to abut said panels edge to edge in the direction of their lateral extent upon engagement during such relative longitudinal movement between said posts and slide members, such camming action serving entirely to conceal said posts and permitting outward removal of a said panel independently of said other panel of said pair.

3. The partition system of claim 2 wherein said posts have outwardly-projecting vertically-extending sides be tween which to receive said slide member and said inturned margin portions of said panels, and said projecting portion of each inturned panel margin portion projects laterally of said margin portion and toward a camming surface of a slide member to effect engagement therewith.

4. In a movable panel assembly having horizontally spaced vertical posts and panels secured thereto and extending therebetween; vertically reciprocable latch means operative when reciprocated in opposite directions respectively to engage and disengage said panels from adjacent posts, said latch means including a slide member adapted for longitudinal relative movement with respect to at least one post and having a projecting camming portion, a pro jecting portion on at least one panel extending toward the projecting camrning portion of said slide member and having a camming surface complementary thereto to make sliding contact therewith upon such vertical reciprocation, and rack and pinion means supported by the post and slide member operative to effect such vertical reciprocation between said post and slide member and also thereby a sliding contact of the complementary camming surfaces.

5. A post and panel assembly comprising a vertical post, two panels having marginal portions provided with inturned vertical side edge portions, first cam means on said edge portions, and second cam means carried by said post and mounted on said post for relative movement vertically thereof to engage said first cam means, the engaging surfaces of said first and second cam means being complementary and disposed to draw the said marginal portions into direct closely abutting relationship and also to draw both said side portions inwardly toward said post.

6. In a movable panel assembly having horizontally spaced vertical posts and panels secured thereto and extending therebetween wherein at least one post has an outwardly projecting vertically extending flange and at least one panel has a rearwardly directed vertically extending flange for positioning adjacent said post flange; the improvements comprising means to mount said one panel with respect to said one post for vertical reciprocation relatively thereto, cam means on each of said post and panel flanges comprising lengths thereof bent out of the planes of said flanges and toward each other to define complementary camming surfaces, said camming surfaces making sliding contact with each other upon such a vertical reciprocation of the panel and post to move said panel in one direction toward the cam means of said post and simultaneously draw said panel in an angularly related lateral direction across the post, whereby panels may be tensioned between adjacent posts.

7. The panel assembly of claim 6 wherein two panels extend between the same adjacent posts, said panels being back-to-back and each panel is secured to said adjacent posts by separate camming means as defined, whereby one of said panels may be released for removal without affecting the other panel.

8. The assembly of claim 6 wherein said cam means is mounted on said one post for engagement with the flange of said one panel as defined at a plurality of vertically spaced regions.

9. In a movable panel assembly having horizontally spaced vertical posts and panels secured thereto and extending therebetween, wherein said panels have rearwardly directed vertically extending marginal flanges; the improvements comprising means to mount a panel with respect to a post for vertical reciprocation relatively thereto, vertically reciprocable latch means operative when reciprocated in opposite directions respectively to engage and disengage at least one panel from at least one post, said latch means including a slide member retained for relative longitudinal movement by said one post and having an outwardly projecting vertically extending flange for positioning adjacent the marginal flange of said one panel, cam means on each of said flanges of said slide member and said one panel comprising lengths thereof bent out of the planes of said flanges and toward each other for most of their vertical extent with the end portions of each bent length curving back into the planes of said flanges, thereby to define complementary endwise-abutting camming surfaces, said camming surfaces making sliding contact with each other upon such vertical reciprocation of said one panel and slide member to move said panel in one direction toward the cam means of said slide member and simultaneously draw said panel in an angularly related lateral direction across the post.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,076,838 Okun Oct. 28, 1913 1,094,278 Van Den Plas Apr. 21, 1914 1,506,442 OHara Aug. 26, 1924 1,865,868 Lowy July 5, 1932 2,128,797 Bohnsack Aug. 30, 1938 2,331,752 Wilson Sept. 23, 1941 2,435,286 Manhard Feb. 3, 1948 2,673,775 Silverman Mar. 30, 1954 2,747,236 French May 29, 1956 

